Category Archives: Science And Society

The Space Technology Curve

I don’t usually post from Facebook, but Jeff Greason has an interesting/depressing thought:

In the Star Trek episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday”, Kirk is told “I’m going to lock you up for two hundred years”. He looks at the camera (very nearly breaking the fourth wall), and says “that ought to be just about right” — in other words, telling the viewer that Star Trek is set about 200 years in the future.

That episode was filmed in 1968.

That was 50 years ago.

Somehow, I don’t feel we’ve made 1/4 of the progress from Apollo to Star Trek

As Mike Heney points out over there, we haven’t even made a quarter of the progress from Apollo back to Apollo.

California’s Scientific And Economic Insanity

This just has me shaking my head:

The Don Pedro hydropower project, just west of Yosemite National Park, has been churning out carbon-free electricity for nearly a century. As the Tuolumne River flows from the Sierra Nevada to the Central Valley, it passes through Don Pedro Dam, spinning four turbine generators.

None of the electricity is counted toward California’s push for more renewable energy on its power grid. A new bill advanced by state lawmakers last week would change that — and it’s being opposed by environmental groups, who say it would undermine the state’s landmark clean energy law by limiting the need to build solar farms and wind turbines.

That law itself is nuts.

Dentistry

People have far too much faith in the medical profession in general, but I’d have never put up with this kind of thing. I’ll always get a second opinion on any major dental procedure, particularly when the person recommending it is going to perform (and profit) from it. A few months ago, I broke a molar that had been weakened from a filling. But it was just the side, and the basic tooth remained intact. I got the dentist to grind it for a crown, and we avoided killing the tooth (for now, at least). I’m sure a lot of others would have recommended a root canal (though those are generally done by specialists).

The Democrat Primary

…is an arms race in crazy.

Yup. The only one who has a chance of beating Trump is Biden, and he probably can’t get the nomination.

[Update a while later]

[Update late morning]

With twenty-one entrants, here’s the state of the 2020 Democrat primary.